PM's world economy talks with EU leaders

Tuesday 29 January 2008 00:01 BST

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is due to have Downing Street talks with fellow European leaders to discuss global economic reform.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italy's crisis-hit premier Romano Prodi and EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barrosso will gather at No 10 late on Tuesday afternoon.

The three other national leaders represent the EU nations in the G8 group of leading industrialised countries.

Mr Brown called the meeting in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage bank crisis in America which led to the collapse of Northern Rock.

He has since put forward his own vision of the International Monetary Fund working more as a conventional central bank in a "surveillance" role to give early warning of international financial crises.

Mr Brown's spokesman said the leaders would talk about "issues such as transparency surrounding off-balance sheet risks faced by banks, issues such as cross-border co-operation and management of financial crises".

He added: "It will be quite a wide-ranging discussion, primarily on the economy and financial markets."

Mr Brown is keen to gain momentum for his vision of new roles for the IMF and the World Bank ahead of this year's G8 summit in Japan.

Chancellor Alistair Darling is due to spell out reforms to Britain's banking regulations and oversight system to MPs on Wednesday.